Instruction and logic to test transactional execution status

ABSTRACT

Novel instructions, logic, methods and apparatus are disclosed to test transactional execution status. Embodiments include decoding a first instruction to start a transactional region. Responsive to the first instruction, a checkpoint for a set of architecture state registers is generated and memory accesses from a processing element in the transactional region associated with the first instruction are tracked. A second instruction to detect transactional execution of the transactional region is then decoded. An operation is executed, responsive to decoding the second instruction, to determine if an execution context of the second instruction is within the transactional region. Then responsive to the second instruction, a first flag is updated. In some embodiments, a register may optionally be updated and/or a second flag may optionally be updated responsive to the second instruction.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 13/538,951, filed Jun.29, 2012, currently pending, which is a Continuation-in-part ofInternational Application No. PCT/US2012/023611 designating the UnitedStates, and filed Feb. 2, 2012. This prior international application isincorporated herein by reference as if set forth in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to the fields of processing logic,microprocessors, and associated instruction set architecture that, whenexecuted by the processor or other processing logic, perform logical,mathematical, or other functional operations. In particular, thedisclosure relates to instructions and logic to test transactionalexecution status.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Advances in semi-conductor processing and logic design have permitted anincrease in the amount of logic that may be present on integratedcircuit devices. As a result, computer system configurations haveevolved from a single or multiple integrated circuits in a system tomultiple processing cores and multiple logical processors present onindividual integrated circuits. A processor or integrated circuittypically comprises a single processor die, where the processor die mayinclude any number of cores or logical processors.

The ever increasing number of cores and logical processors on integratedcircuits enables more software threads to be concurrently executed.However, the increase in the number of software threads that may beexecuted simultaneously have created problems with synchronizing datashared among the software threads. One common solution to accessingshared data in multiple core or multiple logical processor systemscomprises the use of locks to guarantee mutual exclusion across multipleaccesses to shared data. However, the ever increasing ability to executemultiple software threads creates a bottleneck on the locked data,causing threads to wait for other threads to complete (serializing theirexecution), reducing the benefit of having multiple threads executingconcurrently. Furthermore, some read-only accesses may use a lock toguarantee mutual exclusion of the data in case a writer attempts tomodify the data, which has an undesirable side effect of locking outother read-only accesses.

For example, consider a hash table holding shared data. With a locksystem, a programmer may lock the entire hash table, allowing one threadto access the entire hash table. However, throughput and performance ofother threads is potentially adversely affected, as they are unable toaccess any entries in the hash table, until the lock is released.Alternatively, each entry in the hash table may be locked, leading tomany locks structures in the software. In such a construct, many locksmight need to be acquired to execute a particular task, which may leadto deadlocks with other threads. Either way, after extrapolating thissimple example into a large scalable program, it is apparent that thecomplexity of lock contention, serialization, fine-grainsynchronization, and deadlock avoidance become extremely cumbersomeburdens for programmers.

Another recent data synchronization technique includes the use oftransactional memory (TM). Often transactional execution includesexecuting a grouping of a plurality of micro-operations, operations, orinstructions atomically. In the example above, both threads executewithin the hash table, and their memory accesses are monitored/tracked.If both threads access/alter the same entry, conflict resolution may beperformed to ensure data validity. One type of transactional executionincludes Software Transactional Memory (STM), where tracking of memoryaccesses, conflict resolution, abort tasks, and other transactionaltasks are performed in software, often without the support of hardware.Another type of transactional execution includes a HardwareTransactional Memory (HTM) System, where hardware is included to supportaccess tracking, conflict resolution, and other transactional tasks.

A technique similar to transactional memory includes hardware lockelision (HLE), where a locked critical section is executed tentativelywithout the locks. And if the execution is successful (i.e. noconflicts), then the results are made globally visible. In other words,the critical section is executed like a transaction with the lockinstructions from the critical section being elided, instead ofexecuting an atomically defined transaction. As a result, in the exampleabove, instead of replacing the hash table execution with a transaction,the critical section defined by the lock instructions are executedtentatively. Multiple threads similarly execute within the hash table,and their accesses are monitored/tracked. If any of the threadsaccess/alter the same entry, conflict resolution may be performed toensure data validity. But if no conflicts are detected, the updates tothe hash table are atomically committed.

As can be seen, transactional execution and lock elision have thepotential to provide better performance among multiple threads. However,HLE and TM are relatively new fields of study with regards tomicroprocessors. And as a result, HLE and TM implementations inprocessors have not bee fully explored or detailed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a computing system for usinginstructions and logic to test transactional execution status.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a processor for using instructionsand logic to test transactional execution status.

FIG. 3A illustrates an instruction encoding to provide functionality fortesting transactional execution status according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3B illustrates an instruction encoding to provide functionality fortesting transactional execution status according to another embodiment.

FIG. 3C illustrates an instruction encoding to provide functionality fortesting transactional execution status according to another embodiment.

FIG. 3D illustrates an instruction encoding to provide functionality fortesting transactional execution status according to another embodiment.

FIG. 3E illustrates an instruction encoding to provide functionality fortesting transactional execution status according to another embodiment.

FIG. 4A illustrates a block diagram for one embodiment of stages in aprocessor micro-architecture to execute instructions that providefunctionality for testing transactional execution status.

FIG. 4B illustrates elements of one embodiment of a processormicro-architecture to execute instructions that provide functionalityfor testing transactional execution status.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a processor to executeinstructions that provide functionality for testing transactionalexecution status.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a computer system toexecute instructions that provide functionality for testingtransactional execution status.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a computer system toexecute instructions that provide functionality for testingtransactional execution status.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a computer system toexecute instructions that provide functionality for testingtransactional execution status.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a system-on-a-chip toexecute instructions that provide functionality for testingtransactional execution status.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a processor to executeinstructions that provide functionality for testing transactionalexecution status.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an IP core developmentsystem that provides functionality for testing transactional executionstatus.

FIG. 12 illustrates one embodiment of an architecture emulation systemthat provides functionality for testing transactional execution status.

FIG. 13 illustrates one embodiment of a system to translate instructionsthat provide functionality for testing transactional execution status.

FIG. 14 illustrates one embodiment of an apparatus to providefunctionality for testing transactional execution status.

FIG. 15 illustrates a flow diagram for one embodiment of a process toprovide functionality for testing transactional execution status.

FIG. 16 illustrates a flow diagram for an alternative embodiment of aprocess to provide functionality for testing transactional executionstatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments of the herein disclosed instructions and logic to testtransactional execution status may be implemented in conjunction with aprocessor Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) TransactionalSynchronization Extensions (TSX). Such extensions may providecapabilities to dynamically detect when serialization throughlock-protected critical sections is necessary in a multi-threadedsoftware environment. Programmer-specified code regions (referred to astransactional regions) may execute transactionally. If the transactionalexecution completes successfully (i.e. without contention from anotherprocess or thread) then all memory operations, or modifications of datain memory, will appear to have taken place atomically or instantaneouslyupon the successful completion and exit from the transactional region.

Hardware Lock Elison (HLE) is one embodiment of such an extension whichprovides an instruction set interface for programmers using twoinstruction prefix hints, XAQUIRE and XRELEASE, to specify transactionalregions around the acquisition and release of locks that protectcritical sections. With HLE a processor may elide the write associatedwith the lock and attempt to execute the region transactionally. If theprocessor detects any data conflicts, a transactional abort will beperformed and the critical section will be re-executednon-transactionally and without elision.

Restricted Transactional Memory (RTM) is another embodiment of aninstruction set interface for programmers using three instructions,XBEGIN and XEND, to specify transactional regions, and XABORT toexplicitly abort the execution of an RTM region. The XBEGIN instructionmay also specify a branch to a relative offset as a fallback codesection to be executed in the case of a transactional abort. Thefallback code may contain conflict resolution steps. The explicit XABORTmay also specify an 8-bit immediate value to be written into a register,e.g. for use by the fallback code section. Embodiments of the hereindisclosed instructions and logic to test transactional execution status,may also be implemented in conjunction with other processor ISAtransactional extensions, and/or with HTM, and/or with STM, and/or withother transactional execution contexts.

Novel instructions, logic, methods and apparatus are disclosed herein totest transactional execution status. Embodiments include decoding afirst instruction or prefix to start a transactional region. Responsiveto the first instruction or prefix, a checkpoint for a set ofarchitecture state registers is generated and memory accesses from aprocessing element in the transactional region associated with the firstinstruction are tracked. In one embodiment an instruction set interfacefor programmers may include a second instruction to test a transactionalstatus, wherein the second instruction is executed to determine if theexecution context is within a transactional region, or speculativetransactional critical section such as, for example, HLE or RTM. In oneembodiment, such an instruction may be used to set a flag register toone value (e.g. zero) if is determined that the instruction is beingexecuted inside a transactional region. In one embodiment, such aninstruction may be used to set a flag register to another value (e.g.one) if is determined that the instruction is not being executed insidea transactional region. In one alternative embodiment, such aninstruction may be used to set a register to a value indicative of anesting level of a potentially transactional region. In anotheralternative embodiment, such an instruction may be used to determine ifaccessing memory associated with a memory operand could cause atransactional abort of a potentially transactional region. In anotheralternative embodiment, such an instruction may be used to determine ifsufficient buffering is available for transactional execution of apotentially transactional region. Other alternative embodiments are alsopossible.

It will be appreciated that by using one embodiment of such aninstruction the programmer may dynamically determine inside apotentially transactional region, e.g. such as an HLE region, if thatregion is being executed transactionally, or for example, if the regionis being re-executed non-transactionally following a transactionalabort. Using one embodiment of such an instruction the programmer maydynamically determine inside a potentially transactional region, e.g.such as an RTM region, if an XABORT instruction will restore a previousarchitectural state, or will be treated as a NOP (i.e. no operation).Using one embodiment of such an instruction the programmer maydynamically determine if a library routine was called from within atransactional region, or from a fallback code section. It will beappreciated that by using one embodiment of such an instruction theprogrammer may dynamically determine if the nesting level of atransactional region may be close to the hardware limit and if furthernesting would potentially cause a transactional abort.

In the following description, numerous specific details such asprocessing logic, processor types, micro-architectural conditions,events, enablement mechanisms, and the like are set forth in order toprovide a more thorough understanding of embodiments of the presentinvention. It will be appreciated, however, by one skilled in the artthat the invention may be practiced without such specific details.Additionally, some well known structures, circuits, and the like havenot been shown in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring embodiments ofthe present invention.

These and other embodiments of the present invention may be realized inaccordance with the following teachings and it should be evident thatvarious modifications and changes may be made in the following teachingswithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention.The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than restrictive sense and the invention measuredonly in terms of the claims and their equivalents.

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a computing system 100 for usinginstructions and logic to test transactional execution status. System100 includes a component, such as a processor 102 to employ executionunits including logic to perform algorithms for process data, inaccordance with the present invention, such as in the embodimentdescribed herein. System 100 is representative of processing systemsbased on the PENTIUM® III, PENTIUM® 4, Xeon™, Itanium®, XScale™ and/orStrongARM™ microprocessors available from Intel Corporation of SantaClara, Calif., although other systems (including PCs having othermicroprocessors, engineering workstations, set-top boxes and the like)may also be used. In one embodiment, sample system 100 may execute aversion of the WINDOWS™ operating system available from MicrosoftCorporation of Redmond, Wash., although other operating systems (UNIXand Linux for example), embedded software, and/or graphical userinterfaces, may also be used. Thus, embodiments of the present inventionare not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry andsoftware.

Embodiments are not limited to computer systems. Alternative embodimentsof the present invention can be used in other devices such as handhelddevices and embedded applications. Some examples of handheld devicesinclude cellular phones, Internet Protocol devices, digital cameras,personal digital assistants (PDAs), and handheld PCs. Embeddedapplications can include a micro controller, a digital signal processor(DSP), system on a chip, network computers (NetPC), set-top boxes,network hubs, wide area network (WAN) switches, or any other system thatcan perform one or more instructions in accordance with at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system 100 formed with aprocessor 102 that includes one or more execution units 108 to performan algorithm to perform at least one instruction in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. One embodiment may be described inthe context of a single processor desktop or server system, butalternative embodiments can be included in a multiprocessor system.System 100 is an example of a ‘hub’ system architecture. The computersystem 100 includes a processor 102 to process data signals. Theprocessor 102 can be a complex instruction set computer (CISC)microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computing (RISC)microprocessor, a very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, aprocessor implementing a combination of instruction sets, or any otherprocessor device, such as a digital signal processor, for example. Theprocessor 102 is coupled to a processor bus 110 that can transmit datasignals between the processor 102 and other components in the system100. The elements of system 100 perform their conventional functionsthat are well known to those familiar with the art.

In one embodiment, the processor 102 includes a Level 1 (L1) internalcache memory 104. Depending on the architecture, the processor 102 canhave a single internal cache or multiple levels of internal cache.Alternatively, in another embodiment, the cache memory can resideexternal to the processor 102. Other embodiments can also include acombination of both internal and external caches depending on theparticular implementation and needs. Register file 106 can storedifferent types of data in various registers including integerregisters, floating point registers, status registers, and instructionpointer register. Checkpoint logic 105 is provided to checkpoint the setof architecture state registers in register file 106 for threadsexecuted by thread processing elements of processor 102. Tracking logic103 is provided to track memory accesses from thread processing elementsassociated with transactional regions of shared memory in cache memory104.

Execution unit 108, including logic to perform integer and floatingpoint operations, also resides in the processor 102. The processor 102also includes a microcode (ucode) ROM that stores microcode for certainmacroinstructions. For one embodiment, execution unit 108 includes logicto handle a transactional synchronization extensions (TSX) instructionset 109 including one or more instructions to test transactionalexecution status. By including the TSX instruction set 109 in theinstruction set of a general-purpose processor 102, along withassociated circuitry to execute the instructions, the operations used bymany multithreaded applications may be performed using restrictedtransactional memory or hardware lock elision in a general-purposeprocessor 102. Thus, many multithreaded applications can be acceleratedand executed more efficiently by using the restricted transactionalmemory or hardware lock elision for performing synchronization on shareddata. This can eliminate the need to perform unnecessary synchronizationon critical sections of shared memory that have relatively fewconflicts.

Alternate embodiments of an execution unit 108 can also be used in microcontrollers, embedded processors, graphics devices, DSPs, and othertypes of logic circuits. System 100 includes a memory 120. Memory 120can be a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device, a static randomaccess memory (SRAM) device, flash memory device, or other memorydevice. Memory 120 can store instructions and/or data represented bydata signals that can be executed by the processor 102.

A system logic chip 116 is coupled to the processor bus 110 and memory120. The system logic chip 116 in the illustrated embodiment is a memorycontroller hub (MCH). The processor 102 can communicate to the MCH 116via a processor bus 110. The MCH 116 provides a high bandwidth memorypath 118 to memory 120 for instruction and data storage and for storageof graphics commands, data and textures. The MCH 116 is to direct datasignals between the processor 102, memory 120, and other components inthe system 100 and to bridge the data signals between processor bus 110,memory 120, and system I/O 122. In some embodiments, the system logicchip 116 can provide a graphics port for coupling to a graphicscontroller 112. The MCH 116 is coupled to memory 120 through a memoryinterface 118. The graphics card 112 is coupled to the MCH 116 throughan Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) interconnect 114.

System 100 uses a proprietary hub interface bus 122 to couple the MCH116 to the I/O controller hub (ICH) 130. The ICH 130 provides directconnections to some I/O devices via a local I/O bus. The local I/O busis a high-speed I/O bus for connecting peripherals to the memory 120,chipset, and processor 102. Some examples are the audio controller,firmware hub (flash BIOS) 128, wireless transceiver 126, data storage124, legacy I/O controller containing user input and keyboardinterfaces, a serial expansion port such as Universal Serial Bus (USB),and a network controller 134. The data storage device 124 can comprise ahard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM device, a flash memorydevice, or other mass storage device.

For another embodiment of a system, an instruction in accordance withone embodiment can be used with a system on a chip. One embodiment of asystem on a chip comprises of a processor and a memory. The memory forone such system is a flash memory. The flash memory can be located onthe same die as the processor and other system components. Additionally,other logic blocks such as a memory controller or graphics controllercan also be located on a system on a chip.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a processor 200 for usinginstructions and logic to test transactional execution status. In someembodiments, an instruction in accordance with one embodiment can beimplemented to operate on data elements having sizes of byte, word,doubleword, quadword, etc., as well as datatypes, such as single anddouble precision integer and floating point datatypes. In one embodimentthe in-order front end 201 is the part of the processor 200 that fetchesinstructions to be executed and prepares them to be used later in theprocessor pipeline. The front end 201 may include several units. In oneembodiment, the instruction prefetcher 226 fetches instructions frommemory and feeds them to an instruction decoder 228 which in turndecodes or interprets them. For example, in one embodiment, the decoderdecodes a received instruction into one or more operations called“micro-instructions” or “micro-operations” (also called micro ops oruops) that the machine can execute. In other embodiments, the decoderparses the instruction into an opcode and corresponding data and controlfields that are used by the micro-architecture to perform operations inaccordance with one embodiment. In one embodiment including a tracecache 230, the trace cache 230 takes decoded uops and assembles theminto program ordered sequences or traces in the uop queue 234 forexecution. When the trace cache 230 encounters a complex instruction,the microcode ROM 232 provides the uops needed to complete theoperation.

Some instructions are converted into a single micro-op, whereas othersneed several micro-ops to complete the full operation. In oneembodiment, if more than four micro-ops are needed to complete aninstruction, the decoder 228 accesses the microcode ROM 232 to do theinstruction. For one embodiment, an instruction can be decoded into asmall number of micro ops for processing at the instruction decoder 228.In another embodiment, an instruction can be stored within the microcodeROM 232 should a number of micro-ops be needed to accomplish theoperation. The trace cache 230 refers to a entry point programmablelogic array (PLA) to determine a correct micro-instruction pointer forreading the micro-code sequences to complete one or more instructions inaccordance with one embodiment from the micro-code ROM 232. After themicrocode ROM 232 finishes sequencing micro-ops for an instruction, thefront end 201 of the machine resumes fetching micro-ops from the tracecache 230. It will be appreciated that the inclusion of a trace cache230 is not necessary for all embodiments.

The out-of-order execution engine 203 is where the instructions areprepared for execution. The out-of-order execution logic has a number ofbuffers to smooth out and re-order the flow of instructions to optimizeperformance as they go down the pipeline and get scheduled forexecution. The allocator logic allocates the machine buffers andresources that each uop needs in order to execute. The register renaminglogic renames logic registers onto entries in a register file. Theallocator also allocates an entry for each uop in one of the two uopqueues, one for memory operations and one for non-memory operations, infront of the instruction schedulers: memory scheduler, fast scheduler202, slow/general floating point scheduler 204, and simple floatingpoint scheduler 206. The uop schedulers 202, 204, 206, determine when auop is ready to execute based on the readiness of their dependent inputregister operand sources and the availability of the execution resourcesthe uops need to complete their operation. The fast scheduler 202 of oneembodiment can schedule on each half of the main clock cycle while theother schedulers can only schedule once per main processor clock cycle.The schedulers arbitrate for the dispatch ports to schedule uops forexecution.

Register files 208, 210, sit between the schedulers 202, 204, 206, andthe execution units 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224 in the executionblock 211. There is a separate register file 208, 210, for integer andfloating point operations, respectively. Each register file 208, 210, ofone embodiment also includes a bypass network that can bypass or forwardjust completed results that have not yet been written into the registerfile to new dependent uops. The integer register file 208 and thefloating point register file 210 are also capable of communicating datawith the other. For one embodiment, the integer register file 208 issplit into two separate register files, one register file for the loworder 32 bits of data and a second register file for the high order 32bits of data. The floating point register file 210 of one embodiment has128 bit wide entries because floating point instructions typically haveoperands from 64 to 128 bits in width. Some embodiments of floatingpoint register file 210 may have 256 bit wide, or 512 bit wide, or someother width entries. For some embodiments, in the floating pointregister file 210, each element may be separately written to atboundaries of 64 bits, 32 bits, 16 bits, etc.

The execution block 211 contains the execution units 212, 214, 216, 218,220, 222, 224, where the instructions are actually executed. Thissection includes the register files 208, 210, that store the integer andfloating point data operand values that the micro-instructions need toexecute. The processor 200 of one embodiment is comprised of a number ofexecution units: address generation unit (AGU) 212, AGU 214, fast ALU216, fast ALU 218, slow ALU 220, floating point ALU 222, floating pointmove unit 224. For one embodiment, the floating point execution blocks222, 224, execute floating point, MMX, SIMD, SSE and AVX, or otheroperations. The floating point ALU 222 of one embodiment includes a 64bit by 64 bit floating point divider to execute divide, square root, andremainder micro-ops. For embodiments of the present invention,instructions involving a floating point value may be handled with thefloating point hardware. In one embodiment, the ALU operations go to thehigh-speed ALU execution units 216, 218. The fast ALUs 216, 218, of oneembodiment can execute fast operations with an effective latency of halfa clock cycle. For one embodiment, most complex integer operations go tothe slow ALU 220 as the slow ALU 220 includes integer execution hardwarefor long latency type of operations, such as a multiplier, shifts, flaglogic, and branch processing. Memory load/store operations are executedby the AGUs 212, 214. For one embodiment, the integer ALUs 216, 218,220, are described in the context of performing integer operations on 64bit data operands. In alternative embodiments, the ALUs 216, 218, 220,can be implemented to support a variety of data bits including 16, 32,128, 256, etc. Similarly, the floating point units 222, 224, can beimplemented to support a range of operands having bits of variouswidths. For one embodiment, the floating point units 222, 224, canoperate on 128 bits wide packed data operands in conjunction with SIMDand multimedia instructions.

In one embodiment, the uops schedulers 202, 204, 206, dispatch dependentoperations before the parent load has finished executing. As uops arespeculatively scheduled and executed in processor 200, the processor 200also includes logic to handle memory misses. If a data load misses inthe data cache, there can be dependent operations in flight in thepipeline that have left the scheduler with temporarily incorrect data.In some embodiments, a replay mechanism may track and re-executeinstructions that use incorrect data. Only the dependent operations needto be replayed and the independent ones are allowed to complete. Theschedulers and replay mechanism of one embodiment of a processor arealso designed to catch instructions that provide functionality fortesting transactional execution status. In some alternative embodimentswithout a replay mechanism, speculative execution of uops may beprevented and dependent uops may reside in the schedulers 202, 204, 206until they are canceled, or until they cannot be canceled.

The term “registers” may refer to the on-board processor storagelocations that are used as part of instructions to identify operands. Inother words, registers may be those that are usable from the outside ofthe processor (from a programmer's perspective). However, the registersof an embodiment should not be limited in meaning to a particular typeof circuit. Rather, a register of an embodiment is capable of storingand providing data, and performing the functions described herein. Theregisters described herein can be implemented by circuitry within aprocessor using any number of different techniques, such as dedicatedphysical registers, dynamically allocated physical registers usingregister renaming, combinations of dedicated and dynamically allocatedphysical registers, etc. In one embodiment, integer registers storethirty-two bit integer data. A register file of one embodiment alsocontains eight multimedia SIMD registers for packed data. For thediscussions below, the registers are understood to be data registersdesigned to hold packed data, such as 64 bits wide MMX™ registers (alsoreferred to as ‘mm’ registers in some instances) in microprocessorsenabled with MMX technology from Intel Corporation of Santa Clara,Calif. These MMX registers, available in both integer and floating pointforms, can operate with packed data elements that accompany SIMD and SSEinstructions. The, 128 bits wide XMM registers relating to SSE2, SSE3,SSE4 (referred to generically as “SSEx”) technology can also be used tohold such packed data operands. Similarly, 256 bits wide YMM registersand 512 bits wide ZMM registers relating to AVX, AVX2, AVX3 technology(or beyond) may overlap with XMM registers and can be used to hold suchwider packed data operands. In one embodiment, in storing packed dataand integer data, the registers do not need to differentiate between thetwo data types. In one embodiment, integer and floating point are eithercontained in the same register file or different register files.Furthermore, in one embodiment, floating point and integer data may bestored in different registers or the same registers.

FIG. 3A is a depiction of one embodiment of an operation encoding(opcode) format 360, having thirty-two or more bits, and register/memoryoperand addressing modes corresponding with a type of opcode formatdescribed in the “Intel® 64 and IA-32 Intel Architecture SoftwareDeveloper's Manual Combined Volumes 2A and 2B: Instruction Set ReferenceA-Z,” which is which is available from Intel Corporation, Santa Clara,Calif. on the world-wide-web (www) atintel.com/products/processor/manuals/. In one embodiment, andinstruction may be encoded by one or more of fields 361 and 362. Up totwo operand locations per instruction may be identified, including up totwo source operand identifiers 364 and 365. For one embodiment,destination operand identifier 366 is the same as source operandidentifier 364, whereas in other embodiments they are different. For analternative embodiment, destination operand identifier 366 is the sameas source operand identifier 365, whereas in other embodiments they aredifferent. In one embodiment, one of the source operands identified bysource operand identifiers 364 and 365 is overwritten by the results ofthe instruction, whereas in other embodiments identifier 364 correspondsto a source register element and identifier 365 corresponds to adestination register element. For one embodiment, operand identifiers364 and 365 may be used to identify 32-bit or 64-bit source anddestination operands.

FIG. 3B is a depiction of another alternative operation encoding(opcode) format 370, having forty or more bits. Opcode format 370corresponds with opcode format 360 and comprises an optional prefix byte378. An instruction according to one embodiment may be encoded by one ormore of fields 378, 371, and 372. Up to two operand locations perinstruction may be identified by source operand identifiers 374 and 375and by prefix byte 378. For one embodiment, prefix byte 378 may be usedto identify 32-bit or 64-bit source and destination operands. For oneembodiment, destination operand identifier 376 is the same as sourceoperand identifier 374, whereas in other embodiments they are different.For an alternative embodiment, destination operand identifier 376 is thesame as source operand identifier 375, whereas in other embodiments theyare different. In one embodiment, an instruction operates on one or moreof the operands identified by operand identifiers 374 and 375 and one ormore operands identified by the operand identifiers 374 and 375 isoverwritten by the results of the instruction, whereas in otherembodiments, operands identified by identifiers 374 and 375 are writtento another data element in another register. Opcode formats 360 and 370allow register to register, memory to register, register by memory,register by register, register by immediate, register to memoryaddressing specified in part by MOD fields 363 and 373 and by optionalscale-index-base and displacement bytes.

Turning next to FIG. 3C, in some alternative embodiments, 64-bit (or128-bit, or 256-bit, or 512-bit or more) single instruction multipledata (SIMD) arithmetic operations may be performed through a coprocessordata processing (CDP) instruction. Operation encoding (opcode) format380 depicts one such CDP instruction having CDP opcode fields 382 and389. The type of CDP instruction, for alternative embodiments,operations may be encoded by one or more of fields 383, 384, 387, and388. Up to three operand locations per instruction may be identified,including up to two source operand identifiers 385 and 390 and onedestination operand identifier 386. One embodiment of the coprocessorcan operate on 8, 16, 32, and 64 bit values. For one embodiment, aninstruction is performed on integer data elements. In some embodiments,an instruction may be executed conditionally, using condition field 381.For some embodiments, source data sizes may be encoded by field 383. Insome embodiments, Zero (Z), negative (N), carry (C), and overflow (V)detection can be done on SIMD fields. For some instructions, the type ofsaturation may be encoded by field 384.

Turning next to FIG. 3D is a depiction of another alternative operationencoding (opcode) format 397, to provide functionality for testingtransactional execution status according to another embodiment,corresponding with a type of opcode format described in the “Intel®Advanced Vector Extensions Programming Reference,” which is availablefrom Intel Corp., Santa Clara, Calif. on the world-wide-web (www) atintel.com/products/processor/manuals/.

The original x86 instruction set provided for a 1-byte opcode withvarious formats of address syllable and immediate operand contained inadditional bytes whose presence was known from the first “opcode” byte.Additionally, there were certain byte values that were reserved asmodifiers to the opcode (called prefixes, as they had to be placedbefore the instruction). When the original palette of 256 opcode bytes(including these special prefix values) was exhausted, a single byte wasdedicated as an escape to a new set of 256 opcodes. As vectorinstructions (e.g., SIMD) were added, a need for more opcodes wasgenerated, and the “two byte” opcode map also was insufficient, evenwhen expanded through the use of prefixes. To this end, new instructionswere added in additional maps which use 2 bytes plus an optional prefixas an identifier.

Additionally, in order to facilitate additional registers in 64-bitmode, an additional prefix may be used (called “REX”) in between theprefixes and the opcode (and any escape bytes necessary to determine theopcode). In one embodiment, the REX may have 4 “payload” bits toindicate use of additional registers in 64-bit mode. In otherembodiments it may have fewer or more than 4 bits. The general format ofat least one instruction set (which corresponds generally with format360 and/or format 370) is illustrated generically by the following:

-   -   [prefixes] [rex] escape [escape2] opcode modrm (etc.)

Opcode format 397 corresponds with opcode format 370 and comprisesoptional VEX prefix bytes 391 (beginning with C4 hex or C5 hex in oneembodiment) to replace most other commonly used legacy instructionprefix bytes and escape codes. For example, the following illustrates anembodiment using two fields to encode an instruction, which may be usedwhen a second escape code is not present in the original instruction. Inthe embodiment illustrated below, legacy escape is represented by a newescape value, legacy prefixes are fully compressed as part of the“payload” bytes, legacy prefixes are reclaimed and available for futureexpansion, and new features are added (e.g., increased vector length andan additional source register specifier).

When a second escape code is present in the original instruction, orwhen extra bits (e.g, the XB and W fields) in the REX field need to beused. In the alternative embodiment illustrated below, the first legacyescape and legacy prefixes are compressed similar to the above, and thesecond escape code is compressed in a “map” field, with future map orfeature space available, and again, new features are added (e.g.,increased vector length and an additional source register specifier).

An instruction according to one embodiment may be encoded by one or moreof fields 391 and 392. Up to four operand locations per instruction maybe identified by field 391 in combination with source operandidentifiers 374 and 375 and in combination with an optionalscale-index-base (SIB) identifier 393, an optional displacementidentifier 394, and an optional immediate byte 395. For one embodiment,VEX prefix bytes 391 may be used to identify 32-bit or 64-bit source anddestination operands and/or 128-bit or 256-bit SIMD register or memoryoperands. For one embodiment, the functionality provided by opcodeformat 397 may be redundant with opcode format 370, whereas in otherembodiments they are different. Opcode formats 370 and 397 allowregister to register, memory to register, register by memory, registerby register, register by immediate, register to memory addressingspecified in part by MOD field 373 and by optional (SIB) identifier 393,an optional displacement identifier 394, and an optional immediate byte395.

Turning next to FIG. 3E is a depiction of another alternative operationencoding (opcode) format 398, to provide functionality for testingtransactional execution status according to another embodiment. Opcodeformat 398 corresponds with opcode formats 370 and 397 and comprisesoptional EVEX prefix bytes 396 (beginning with 62 hex in one embodiment)to replace most other commonly used legacy instruction prefix bytes andescape codes and provide additional functionality. An instructionaccording to one embodiment may be encoded by one or more of fields 396and 392. Up to four operand locations per instruction and a mask may beidentified by field 396 in combination with source operand identifiers374 and 375 and in combination with an optional scale-index-base (SIB)identifier 393, an optional displacement identifier 394, and an optionalimmediate byte 395. For one embodiment, EVEX prefix bytes 396 may beused to identify 32-bit or 64-bit source and destination operands and/or128-bit, 256-bit or 512-bit SIMD register or memory operands. For oneembodiment, the functionality provided by opcode format 398 may beredundant with opcode formats 370 or 397, whereas in other embodimentsthey are different. Opcode format 398 allows register to register,memory to register, register by memory, register by register, registerby immediate, register to memory addressing, with masks, specified inpart by MOD field 373 and by optional (SIB) identifier 393, an optionaldisplacement identifier 394, and an optional immediate byte 395. Thegeneral format of at least one instruction set (which correspondsgenerally with format 360 and/or format 370) is illustrated genericallyby the following:

-   -   evex1 RXBmmmmm WvvvLpp evex4 opcode modrm [sib] [disp] [imm]

For one embodiment an instruction encoded according to the EVEX format398 may have additional “payload” bits that may be used to providefunctionality for testing transactional execution status with additionalnew features such as, for example, a user configurable mask register, oran additional operand, or selections from among 128-bit, 256-bit or512-bit vector registers, or more registers from which to select, etc.

For example, where VEX format 397 may be used to provide functionalityfor testing transactional execution status with an explicit mask andwith or without an additional operation that is unary such as a typeconversion, the EVEX format 398 may be used to provide functionality fortesting transactional execution status with an explicit userconfigurable mask and with or without an additional operation that isbinary such as addition or multiplication requiring an additionaloperand. Some embodiments of EVEX format 398 may also be used to providefunctionality for testing transactional execution status and an implicitcompletion mask and with additional operation is ternary. Additionally,where VEX format 397 may be used to provide functionality for testingtransactional execution status on 128-bit or 256-bit vector registers,EVEX format 398 may be used to provide functionality for testingtransactional execution status on 128-bit, 256-bit, 512-bit or larger(or smaller) vector registers.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments of instructions and logicto test transactional execution status may specify explicit sourceoperands and/or destination operands, while some embodiments may haveimplicit source operands and/or destination operands. Exampleinstructions to provide functionality for testing transactionalexecution status (referred to below as XTEST) are illustrated by thefollowing examples:

Instruction destination source1 description XTEST If the instructionexecutes inside a transactionally executing region, then clear the zeroflag (ZF) to zero. Otherwise set the ZF to one. XTEST.NL Reg32 If theinstruction executes inside a transactionally executing region, thenstore the nesting level in Reg32 and clear the zero flag (ZF) to zeroOtherwise store zero in Reg32 and set the ZF to one. XTEST.BA Reg32 Ifthe instruction executes inside a transactionally executing region, thenstore the number/size of available internal buffers left in Reg32 andclear the zero flag (ZF) to zero. Otherwise store zero in Reg32 and setthe ZF to one. XTEST.BV Mem If the instruction executes inside atransactionally executing region, then clear the zero flag (ZF) to zero,and if a transaction to Mem would overflow the internal buffers, thenset the overflow flag (OF) to one. Otherwise set the ZF to one, andclear the OF to zero. XTEST.MV Mem If the instruction executes inside atransactionally executing region, then clear the zero flag (ZF) to zero.Otherwise set the ZF to one. If an access to Mem could conflict withanother transactional execution, then set the overflow flag (OF) to one.Otherwise clear the OF to zero. XTEST.BM Reg32 Mem If the instructionexecutes inside a transactionally executing region, then store thenumber/size of available internal buffers left in Reg32 and clear thezero flag (ZF) to zero. Otherwise store zero in Reg32 and set the ZF toone. If a read access to Mem could conflict with another transactionalexecution, then set the carry flag (CF) to one. If a write access to Memcould conflict with another transactional execution, then set theoverflow flag (OF) to one.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating an in-order pipeline and aregister renaming stage, out-of-order issue/execution pipeline accordingto at least one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4B is a block diagramillustrating an in-order architecture core and a register renaminglogic, out-of-order issue/execution logic to be included in a processoraccording to at least one embodiment of the invention. The solid linedboxes in FIG. 4A illustrate the in-order pipeline, while the dashedlined boxes illustrates the register renaming, out-of-orderissue/execution pipeline. Similarly, the solid lined boxes in FIG. 4Billustrate the in-order architecture logic, while the dashed lined boxesillustrates the register renaming logic and out-of-order issue/executionlogic.

In FIG. 4A, a processor pipeline 400 includes a fetch stage 402, alength decode stage 404, a decode stage 406, an allocation stage 408, arenaming stage 410, a scheduling (also known as a dispatch or issue)stage 412, a register read/memory read stage 414, an execute stage 416,a write back/memory write stage 418, an exception handling stage 422,and a commit stage 424.

In FIG. 4B, arrows denote a coupling between two or more units and thedirection of the arrow indicates a direction of data flow between thoseunits. FIG. 4B shows processor core 490 including a front end unit 430coupled to an execution engine unit 450, and both are coupled to amemory unit 470.

The core 490 may be a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) core, acomplex instruction set computing (CISC) core, a very long instructionword (VLIW) core, or a hybrid or alternative core type. As yet anotheroption, the core 490 may be a special-purpose core, such as, forexample, a network or communication core, compression engine, graphicscore, or the like.

The front end unit 430 includes a branch prediction unit 432 coupled toan instruction cache unit 434, which is coupled to an instructiontranslation lookaside buffer (TLB) 436, which is coupled to aninstruction fetch unit 438, which is coupled to a decode unit 440. Thedecode unit or decoder may decode instructions, and generate as anoutput one or more micro-operations, micro-code entry points,microinstructions, other instructions, or other control signals, whichare decoded from, or which otherwise reflect, or are derived from, theoriginal instructions. The decoder may be implemented using variousdifferent mechanisms. Examples of suitable mechanisms include, but arenot limited to, look-up tables, hardware implementations, programmablelogic arrays (PLAs), microcode read only memories (ROMs), etc. Theinstruction cache unit 434 is further coupled to a level 2 (L2) cacheunit 476 in the memory unit 470. The decode unit 440 is coupled to arename/allocator unit 452 in the execution engine unit 450.

The execution engine unit 450 includes the rename/allocator unit 452coupled to a retirement unit 454 and a set of one or more schedulerunit(s) 456. The scheduler unit(s) 456 represents any number ofdifferent schedulers, including reservations stations, centralinstruction window, etc. The scheduler unit(s) 456 is coupled to thephysical register file(s) unit(s) 458. Each of the physical registerfile(s) units 458 represents one or more physical register files,different ones of which store one or more different data types, such asscalar integer, scalar floating point, packed integer, packed floatingpoint, vector integer, vector floating point, etc., status (e.g., aninstruction pointer that is the address of the next instruction to beexecuted), etc. The physical register file(s) unit(s) 458 is overlappedby the retirement unit 454 to illustrate various ways in which registerrenaming and out-of-order execution may be implemented (e.g., using areorder buffer(s) and a retirement register file(s), using a futurefile(s), a history buffer(s), and a retirement register file(s); using aregister maps and a pool of registers; etc.). Generally, thearchitectural registers are visible from the outside of the processor orfrom a programmer's perspective. The registers are not limited to anyknown particular type of circuit. Various different types of registersare suitable as long as they are capable of storing and providing dataas described herein. Examples of suitable registers include, but are notlimited to, dedicated physical registers, dynamically allocated physicalregisters using register renaming, combinations of dedicated anddynamically allocated physical registers, etc. The retirement unit 454and the physical register file(s) unit(s) 458 are coupled to theexecution cluster(s) 460. The execution cluster(s) 460 includes a set ofone or more execution units 462 and a set of one or more memory accessunits 464. The execution units 462 may perform various operations (e.g.,shifts, addition, subtraction, multiplication) and on various types ofdata (e.g., scalar floating point, packed integer, packed floatingpoint, vector integer, vector floating point). While some embodimentsmay include a number of execution units dedicated to specific functionsor sets of functions, other embodiments may include only one executionunit or multiple execution units that all perform all functions. Thescheduler unit(s) 456, physical register file(s) unit(s) 458, andexecution cluster(s) 460 are shown as being possibly plural becausecertain embodiments create separate pipelines for certain types ofdata/operations (e.g., a scalar integer pipeline, a scalar floatingpoint/packed integer/packed floating point/vector integer/vectorfloating point pipeline, and/or a memory access pipeline that each havetheir own scheduler unit, physical register file(s) unit, and/orexecution cluster, and in the case of a separate memory access pipeline,certain embodiments are implemented in which only the execution clusterof this pipeline has the memory access unit(s) 464). It should also beunderstood that where separate pipelines are used, one or more of thesepipelines may be out-of-order issue/execution and the rest in-order.

The set of memory access units 464 is coupled to the memory unit 470,which includes a data TLB unit 472 coupled to a data cache unit 474coupled to a level 2 (L2) cache unit 476. In one exemplary embodiment,the memory access units 464 may include a load unit, a store addressunit, and a store data unit, each of which is coupled to the data TLBunit 472 in the memory unit 470. The L2 cache unit 476 is coupled to oneor more other levels of cache and eventually to a main memory.

By way of example, the exemplary register renaming, out-of-orderissue/execution core architecture may implement the pipeline 400 asfollows: 1) the instruction fetch 438 performs the fetch and lengthdecoding stages 402 and 404; 2) the decode unit 440 performs the decodestage 406; 3) the rename/allocator unit 452 performs the allocationstage 408 and renaming stage 410; 4) the scheduler unit(s) 456 performsthe schedule stage 412; 5) the physical register file(s) unit(s) 458 andthe memory unit 470 perform the register read/memory read stage 414; theexecution cluster 460 perform the execute stage 416; 6) the memory unit470 and the physical register file(s) unit(s) 458 perform the writeback/memory write stage 418; 7) various units may be involved in theexception handling stage 422; and 8) the retirement unit 454 and thephysical register file(s) unit(s) 458 perform the commit stage 424.

The core 490 may support one or more instructions sets (e.g., the x86instruction set (with some extensions that have been added with newerversions); the MIPS instruction set of MIPS Technologies of Sunnyvale,Calif.; the ARM instruction set (with optional additional extensionssuch as NEON) of ARM Holdings of Sunnyvale, Calif.).

It should be understood that the core may support multithreading(executing two or more parallel sets of operations or threads), and maydo so in a variety of ways including time sliced multithreading,simultaneous multithreading (where a single physical core provides alogical core for each of the threads that physical core issimultaneously multithreading), or a combination thereof (e.g., timesliced fetching and decoding and simultaneous multithreading thereaftersuch as in the Intel® Hyperthreading technology).

For one embodiment, execution engine unit 450 includes TSX logic 469 tohandle a TSX instruction set. By including the TSX instruction set inthe instruction set of a general-purpose processor core 490, along withassociated TSX logic 469 to execute the instructions, the operationsused by many multithreaded applications may be performed usingrestricted transactional memory or hardware lock elision in ageneral-purpose processor core 490. Thus, many multithreadedapplications can be accelerated and executed more efficiently by usingthe restricted transactional memory or hardware lock elision forperforming synchronization on shared data. This can eliminate the needto perform unnecessary synchronization on critical sections of sharedmemory that have relatively few conflicts. Tracking logic 473 isprovided in memory unit 470 to track memory accesses from threadprocessing elements associated with transactional regions of sharedmemory in cache of memory unit 470. In one embodiment, checkpoint logic455 is provided to checkpoint the set of architecture state registers inregister files unit 458 for threads executed by thread processingelements of core 490.

While register renaming is described in the context of out-of-orderexecution, it should be understood that register renaming may be used inan in-order architecture. While the illustrated embodiment of theprocessor also includes a separate instruction and data cache units434/474 and a shared L2 cache unit 476, alternative embodiments may havea single internal cache for both instructions and data, such as, forexample, a Level 1 (L1) internal cache, or multiple levels of internalcache. In some embodiments, the system may include a combination of aninternal cache and an external cache that is external to the core and/orthe processor. Alternatively, all of the cache may be external to thecore and/or the processor.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a single core processor and a multicoreprocessor 500 with integrated memory controller and graphics accordingto embodiments of the invention. The solid lined boxes in FIG. 5illustrate a processor 500 with a single core 502A, a system agent 510,a set of one or more bus controller units 516, while the optionaladdition of the dashed lined boxes illustrates an alternative processor500 with multiple cores 502A-N, a set of one or more integrated memorycontroller unit(s) 514 in the system agent unit 510, and an integratedgraphics logic 508.

The memory hierarchy includes one or more levels of cache 504A-N withinthe cores, a set or one or more shared cache units 506, and externalmemory (not shown) coupled to the set of integrated memory controllerunits 514. The set of shared cache units 506 may include one or moremid-level caches, such as level 2 (L2), level 3 (L3), level 4 (L4), orother levels of cache, a last level cache (LLC), and/or combinationsthereof. Tracking logic 503A-N is provided to track memory accesses fromthread processing elements associated with transactional regions ofshared memory in cache memories 504A-N and/or shared cache units 506.While in one embodiment a ring based interconnect unit 512 interconnectsthe integrated graphics logic 508, the set of shared cache units 506,and the system agent unit 510, alternative embodiments may use anynumber of well-known techniques for interconnecting such units.

In some embodiments, one or more of the cores 502A-N are capable ofmulti-threading. The system agent 510 includes those componentscoordinating and operating cores 502A-N. The system agent unit 510 mayinclude for example a power control unit (PCU) and a display unit. ThePCU may be or include logic and components needed for regulating thepower state of the cores 502A-N and the integrated graphics logic 508.The display unit is for driving one or more externally connecteddisplays.

The cores 502A-N may be homogenous or heterogeneous in terms ofarchitecture and/or instruction set. For example, some of the cores502A-N may be in order while others are out-of-order. As anotherexample, two or more of the cores 502A-N may be capable of execution thesame instruction set, while others may be capable of executing only asubset of that instruction set or a different instruction set.

The processor may be a general-purpose processor, such as a Core™ i3,i5, i7, 2 Duo and Quad, Xeon™, Itanium™, XScale™ or StrongARM™processor, which are available from Intel Corporation, of Santa Clara,Calif. Alternatively, the processor may be from another company, such asARM Holdings, Ltd, MIPS, etc. The processor may be a special-purposeprocessor, such as, for example, a network or communication processor,compression engine, graphics processor, co-processor, embeddedprocessor, or the like. The processor may be implemented on one or morechips. The processor 500 may be a part of and/or may be implemented onone or more substrates using any of a number of process technologies,such as, for example, BiCMOS, CMOS, or NMOS.

FIGS. 6-8 are exemplary systems suitable for including the processor500, while FIG. 9 is an exemplary system on a chip (SoC) that mayinclude one or more of the cores 502. Other system designs andconfigurations known in the arts for laptops, desktops, handheld PCs,personal digital assistants, engineering workstations, servers, networkdevices, network hubs, switches, embedded processors, digital signalprocessors (DSPs), graphics devices, video game devices, set-top boxes,micro controllers, cell phones, portable media players, hand helddevices, and various other electronic devices, are also suitable. Ingeneral, a huge variety of systems or electronic devices capable ofincorporating a processor and/or other execution logic as disclosedherein are generally suitable.

Referring now to FIG. 6, shown is a block diagram of a system 600 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The system 600may include one or more processors 610, 615, which are coupled tographics memory controller hub (GMCH) 620. The optional nature ofadditional processors 615 is denoted in FIG. 6 with broken lines.

Each processor 610,615 may be some version of the processor 500.However, it should be noted that it is unlikely that integrated graphicslogic and integrated memory control units would exist in the processors610,615. FIG. 6 illustrates that the GMCH 620 may be coupled to a memory640 that may be, for example, a dynamic random access memory (DRAM). TheDRAM may, for at least one embodiment, be associated with a non-volatilecache and tracking logic may also be provided to track memory accessesfrom thread processing elements associated with transactional regions ofshared memory in the non-volatile cache.

The GMCH 620 may be a chipset, or a portion of a chipset. The GMCH 620may communicate with the processor(s) 610, 615 and control interactionbetween the processor(s) 610, 615 and memory 640. The GMCH 620 may alsoact as an accelerated bus interface between the processor(s) 610, 615and other elements of the system 600. For at least one embodiment, theGMCH 620 communicates with the processor(s) 610, 615 via a multi-dropbus, such as a frontside bus (FSB) 695.

Furthermore, GMCH 620 is coupled to a display 645 (such as a flat paneldisplay). GMCH 620 may include an integrated graphics accelerator. GMCH620 is further coupled to an input/output (I/O) controller hub (ICH)650, which may be used to couple various peripheral devices to system600. Shown for example in the embodiment of FIG. 6 is an externalgraphics device 660, which may be a discrete graphics device coupled toICH 650, along with another peripheral device 670.

Alternatively, additional or different processors may also be present inthe system 600. For example, additional processor(s) 615 may includeadditional processors(s) that are the same as processor 610, additionalprocessor(s) that are heterogeneous or asymmetric to processor 610,accelerators (such as, e.g., graphics accelerators or digital signalprocessing (DSP) units), field programmable gate arrays, or any otherprocessor. There can be a variety of differences between the physicalresources 610, 615 in terms of a spectrum of metrics of merit includingarchitectural, micro-architectural, thermal, power consumptioncharacteristics, and the like. These differences may effectivelymanifest themselves as asymmetry and heterogeneity amongst theprocessors 610, 615. For at least one embodiment, the various processors610, 615 may reside in the same die package.

Referring now to FIG. 7, shown is a block diagram of a second system 700in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown inFIG. 7, multiprocessor system 700 is a point-to-point interconnectsystem, and includes a first processor 770 and a second processor 780coupled via a point-to-point interconnect 750. Each of processors 770and 780 may be some version of the processor 500 as one or more of theprocessors 610,615.

While shown with only two processors 770, 780, it is to be understoodthat the scope of the present invention is not so limited. In otherembodiments, one or more additional processors may be present in a givenprocessor.

Processors 770 and 780 are shown including integrated memory controllerunits 772 and 782, respectively. Processor 770 also includes as part ofits bus controller units point-to-point (P-P) interfaces 776 and 778;similarly, second processor 780 includes P-P interfaces 786 and 788.Processors 770, 780 may exchange information via a point-to-point (P-P)interface 750 using P-P interface circuits 778, 788. As shown in FIG. 7,IMCs 772 and 782 couple the processors to respective memories, namely amemory 732 and a memory 734, which may be portions of main memorylocally attached to the respective processors.

Processors 770, 780 may each exchange information with a chipset 790 viaindividual P-P interfaces 752, 754 using point to point interfacecircuits 776, 794, 786, 798. Chipset 790 may also exchange informationwith a high-performance graphics circuit 738 via a high-performancegraphics interface 739.

A shared cache (not shown) may be included in either processor oroutside of both processors, yet connected with the processors via P-Pinterconnect, such that either or both processors' local cacheinformation may be stored in the shared cache if a processor is placedinto a low power mode. Tracking logic may be provided to track memoryaccesses from thread processing elements associated with transactionalregions of shared memory in shared cache.

Chipset 790 may be coupled to a first bus 716 via an interface 796. Inone embodiment, first bus 716 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect(PCI) bus, or a bus such as a PCI Express bus or another thirdgeneration I/O interconnect bus, although the scope of the presentinvention is not so limited.

As shown in FIG. 7, various I/O devices 714 may be coupled to first bus716, along with a bus bridge 718 which couples first bus 716 to a secondbus 720. In one embodiment, second bus 720 may be a low pin count (LPC)bus. Various devices may be coupled to second bus 720 including, forexample, a keyboard and/or mouse 722, communication devices 727 and astorage unit 728 such as a disk drive or other mass storage device whichmay include instructions/code and data 730, in one embodiment. Further,an audio I/O 724 may be coupled to second bus 720. Note that otherarchitectures are possible. For example, instead of the point-to-pointarchitecture of FIG. 7, a system may implement a multi-drop bus or othersuch architecture.

Referring now to FIG. 8, shown is a block diagram of a third system 800in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Like elementsin FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 bear like reference numerals, and certain aspectsof FIG. 7 have been omitted from FIG. 8 in order to avoid obscuringother aspects of FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 illustrates that the processors 870, 880 may include integratedmemory and I/O control logic (“CL”) 872 and 882, respectively. For atleast one embodiment, the CL 872, 882 may include integrated memorycontroller units such as that described above in connection with FIGS. 5and 7. In addition. CL 872, 882 may also include I/O control logic. FIG.8 illustrates that not only are the memories 832, 834 coupled to the CL872, 882, but also that I/O devices 814 are also coupled to the controllogic 872, 882. Legacy I/O devices 815 are coupled to the chipset 890.

Referring now to FIG. 9, shown is a block diagram of a SoC 900 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Similar elementsin FIG. 5 bear like reference numerals. Also, dashed lined boxes areoptional features on more advanced SoCs. In FIG. 9, an interconnectunit(s) 902 is coupled to: an application processor 910 which includes aset of one or more cores 502A-N; one or more levels of cache 504A-Nwithin the cores; and shared cache unit(s) 506; tracking logic 503A-N totrack memory accesses from thread processing elements associated withtransactional regions of shared memory in cache memories 504A-N and/orshared cache units 506; a system agent unit 510; a bus controllerunit(s) 516; an integrated memory controller unit(s) 514; a set of oneor more media processors 920 which may include integrated graphics logic508, an image processor 924 for providing still and/or video camerafunctionality, an audio processor 926 for providing hardware audioacceleration, and a video processor 928 for providing videoencode/decode acceleration; an static random access memory (SRAM) unit930; a direct memory access (DMA) unit 932; and a display unit 940 forcoupling to one or more external displays.

FIG. 10 illustrates a processor containing a central processing unit(CPU) and a graphics processing unit (GPU), which may perform at leastone instruction according to one embodiment. In one embodiment, aninstruction to perform operations according to at least one embodimentcould be performed by the CPU. In another embodiment, the instructioncould be performed by the GPU. In still another embodiment, theinstruction may be performed through a combination of operationsperformed by the GPU and the CPU. For example, in one embodiment, aninstruction in accordance with one embodiment may be received anddecoded for execution on the GPU. However, one or more operations withinthe decoded instruction may be performed by a CPU and the resultreturned to the GPU for final retirement of the instruction. Conversely,in some embodiments, the CPU may act as the primary processor and theGPU as the co-processor.

In some embodiments, instructions that benefit from highly parallel,throughput processors may be performed by the GPU, while instructionsthat benefit from the performance of processors that benefit from deeplypipelined architectures may be performed by the CPU. For example,graphics, scientific applications, financial applications and otherparallel workloads may benefit from the performance of the GPU and beexecuted accordingly, whereas more sequential applications, such asoperating system kernel or application code may be better suited for theCPU.

In FIG. 10, processor 1000 includes a CPU 1005, GPU 1010, imageprocessor 1015, video processor 1020, USB controller 1025, UARTcontroller 1030, SPI/SDIO controller 1035, display device 1040,High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) controller 1045, MIPIcontroller 1050, flash memory controller 1055, dual data rate (DDR)controller 1060, security engine 1065, and I²S/I²C (Integrated InterchipSound/Inter-Integrated Circuit) interface 1070. Other logic and circuitsmay be included in the processor of FIG. 10, including more CPUs or GPUsand other peripheral interface controllers.

One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be implemented byrepresentative data stored on a machine-readable medium which representsvarious logic within the processor, which when read by a machine causesthe machine to fabricate logic to perform the techniques describedherein. Such representations, known as “IP cores” may be stored on atangible, machine readable medium (“tape”) and supplied to variouscustomers or manufacturing facilities to load into the fabricationmachines that actually make the logic or processor. For example, IPcores, such as the Cortex™ family of processors developed by ARMHoldings, Ltd. and Loongson IP cores developed the Institute ofComputing Technology (ICT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences may belicensed or sold to various customers or licensees, such as TexasInstruments, Qualcomm, Apple, or Samsung and implemented in processorsproduced by these customers or licensees.

FIG. 11 shows a block diagram illustrating the development of IP coresaccording to one embodiment. Storage 1130 includes simulation software1120 and/or hardware or software model 1110. In one embodiment, the datarepresenting the IP core design can be provided to the storage 1130 viamemory 1140 (e.g., hard disk), wired connection (e.g., internet) 1150 orwireless connection 1160. The IP core information generated by thesimulation tool and model can then be transmitted to a fabricationfacility where it can be fabricated by a third party to perform at leastone instruction in accordance with at least one embodiment.

In some embodiments, one or more instructions may correspond to a firsttype or architecture (e.g., x86) and be translated or emulated on aprocessor of a different type or architecture (e.g., ARM). Aninstruction, according to one embodiment, may therefore be performed onany processor or processor type, including ARM, x86, MIPS, a GPU, orother processor type or architecture.

FIG. 12 illustrates how an instruction of a first type is emulated by aprocessor of a different type, according to one embodiment. In FIG. 12,program 1205 contains some instructions that may perform the same orsubstantially the same function as an instruction according to oneembodiment. However the instructions of program 1205 may be of a typeand/or format that is different or incompatible with processor 1215,meaning the instructions of the type in program 1205 may not be able tobe executed natively by the processor 1215. However, with the help ofemulation logic, 1210, the instructions of program 1205 are translatedinto instructions that are natively capable of being executed by theprocessor 1215. In one embodiment, the emulation logic is embodied inhardware. In another embodiment, the emulation logic is embodied in atangible, machine-readable medium containing software to translateinstructions of the type in the program 1205 into the type nativelyexecutable by the processor 1215. In other embodiments, emulation logicis a combination of fixed-function or programmable hardware and aprogram stored on a tangible, machine-readable medium. In oneembodiment, the processor contains the emulation logic, whereas in otherembodiments, the emulation logic exists outside of the processor and isprovided by a third party. In one embodiment, the processor is capableof loading the emulation logic embodied in a tangible, machine-readablemedium containing software by executing microcode or firmware containedin or associated with the processor.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram contrasting the use of a software instructionconverter to convert binary instructions in a source instruction set tobinary instructions in a target instruction set according to embodimentsof the invention. In the illustrated embodiment, the instructionconverter is a software instruction converter, although alternativelythe instruction converter may be implemented in software, firmware,hardware, or various combinations thereof. FIG. 13 shows a program in ahigh level language 1302 may be compiled using an x86 compiler 1304 togenerate x86 binary code 1306 that may be natively executed by aprocessor with at least one x86 instruction set core 1316. The processorwith at least one x86 instruction set core 1316 represents any processorthat can perform substantially the same functions as a Intel processorwith at least one x86 instruction set core by compatibly executing orotherwise processing (1) a substantial portion of the instruction set ofthe Intel x86 instruction set core or (2) object code versions ofapplications or other software targeted to run on an Intel processorwith at least one x86 instruction set core, in order to achievesubstantially the same result as an Intel processor with at least onex86 instruction set core. The x86 compiler 1304 represents a compilerthat is operable to generate x86 binary code 1306 (e.g., object code)that can, with or without additional linkage processing, be executed onthe processor with at least one x86 instruction set core 1316.Similarly, FIG. 13 shows the program in the high level language 1302 maybe compiled using an alternative instruction set compiler 1308 togenerate alternative instruction set binary code 1310 that may benatively executed by a processor without at least one x86 instructionset core 1314 (e.g., a processor with cores that execute the MIPSinstruction set of MIPS Technologies of Sunnyvale, Calif. and/or thatexecute the ARM instruction set of ARM Holdings of Sunnyvale, Calif.).The instruction converter 1312 is used to convert the x86 binary code1306 into code that may be natively executed by the processor without anx86 instruction set core 1314. This converted code is not likely to bethe same as the alternative instruction set binary code 1310 because aninstruction converter capable of this is difficult to make; however, theconverted code will accomplish the general operation and be made up ofinstructions from the alternative instruction set. Thus, the instructionconverter 1312 represents software, firmware, hardware, or a combinationthereof that, through emulation, simulation or any other process, allowsa processor or other electronic device that does not have an x86instruction set processor or core to execute the x86 binary code 1306.

FIG. 14 illustrates one embodiment of an apparatus 1401 to providefunctionality for testing transactional execution status. Apparatus 1401includes an instruction fetch unit 1438, which is coupled to a decodeunit 1440. The decode unit or decoder may decode instructions, andgenerate as an output one or more micro-operations, micro-code entrypoints, microinstructions, other instructions, or other control signals,which are decoded from, or which otherwise reflect, or are derived from,the original instructions. The decoder may be implemented using variousdifferent mechanisms. Examples of suitable mechanisms include, but arenot limited to, look-up tables, hardware implementations, programmablelogic arrays (PLAs), microcode read only memories (ROMs), etc. Thedecode unit 1440 is coupled to register files unit(s) 1458.

Each of the register file(s) units 1458 represents one or more physicalregister files, different ones of which store one or more different datatypes, such as scalar integer, scalar floating point, packed integer,packed floating point, vector integer, vector floating point, etc.,status (e.g., an instruction pointer that is the address of the nextinstruction to be executed), etc. The register file(s) unit(s) 1458 iscoupled with checkpoint logic 1455 of apparatus 1402. Generally, thearchitectural registers are visible from the outside of the processor orfrom a programmer's perspective. In one embodiment, checkpoint logic1455 is provided to checkpoint the set of architecture registers inregister file(s) unit(s) 1458 for threads executed by thread processingelements associated with transactional regions of shared memory. Theregisters are not limited to any known particular type of circuit.Various different types of registers are suitable as long as they arecapable of storing and providing data as described herein. Examples ofsuitable registers include, but are not limited to, dedicated physicalregisters, dynamically allocated physical registers using registerrenaming, combinations of dedicated and dynamically allocated physicalregisters, etc. The register file(s) unit(s) 1458 are coupled to a setof one or more execution unit(s) 1462 and a set of one or more memoryaccess unit(s) 1464. The execution unit(s) 1462 may perform variousoperations (e.g., shifts, addition, subtraction, multiplication) and onvarious types of data (e.g., scalar floating point, packed integer,packed floating point, vector integer, vector floating point). Whilesome embodiments may include a number of execution units dedicated tospecific functions or sets of functions, other embodiments may includeonly one execution unit or multiple execution units that all perform allfunctions. The register file(s) unit(s) 1458, memory access unit(s) 1464and execution unit(s) 1462 are shown as being possibly plural becausecertain embodiments create separate pipelines for certain types ofdata/operations (e.g., a scalar integer pipeline, a scalar floatingpoint/packed integer/packed floating point/vector integer/vectorfloating point pipeline, and/or a memory access pipeline that each havetheir own register file(s) unit, and/or execution unit, and in the caseof separate memory access pipeline(s), certain embodiments areimplemented in which only one or more particular pipeline(s) has thememory access unit(s) 1464). It should also be understood that whereseparate pipelines are used, one or more of these pipelines may beout-of-order issue/execution and others may be in-order.

The set of memory access units 1464 is coupled to a data cache unit1474, which is coupled to a level 2 (L2) cache unit 1476. In oneexemplary embodiment, the memory access units 1464 may include a loadunit, a store address unit, and a store data unit, each of which iscoupled to the data cache unit 1474 and tracking logic 1473 of apparatus1402 to track memory accesses from thread processing elements associatedwith transactional regions of shared memory in data cache unit 1474. TheL2 cache unit 1476 is coupled to one or more other levels of cache andeventually to a main memory.

By way of example, the exemplary apparatus 1401 may implement thepipeline 400 as follows: 1) the instruction fetch 1438 performs thefetch and length decoding stages 402 and 404; 2) the decode unit 1440performs the decode stage 406; 3) the register file(s) unit(s) 1458 andthe memory access unit(s) 1464 perform the register read/memory readstage 414; 4) the execution unit(s) 1462 perform the execute stage 416;and 5) the memory access unit(s) 1464 and the physical register file(s)unit(s) 1458 perform the write back/memory write stage 418.

The apparatus 1401 may support one or more instructions sets (e.g., thex86 instruction set (with some extensions that have been added withnewer versions, including the TSX ISA 1469); the MIPS instruction set ofMIPS Technologies of Sunnyvale, Calif. (including transactionalsynchronizations such as in the TSX ISA 1469); the ARM instruction set(with optional additional extensions such as NEON, and includingtransactional synchronizations such as in the TSX ISA 1469) of ARMHoldings of Sunnyvale, Calif.).

It should be understood that apparatus 1401 can support multithreading(executing two or more parallel sets of operations or threads), and maydo so in a variety of ways including time sliced multithreading,simultaneous multithreading (where a single physical core provides alogical core for each of the threads that physical core issimultaneously multithreading), or a combination thereof (e.g., timesliced fetching and decoding and simultaneous multithreading thereaftersuch as in the Intel® Hyperthreading technology).

For one embodiment, execution unit(s) 1462 executes a TSX instructionset architecture (ISA) 1469 to perform transactional synchronizationscoordinated by TSX control 1457. The TSX control 1457 of apparatus 1402works with checkpoint logic 1455 to checkpoint the set of architectureregisters in register file(s) unit(s) 1458, and tracking logic 1473 inmemory access unit(s) 1464 to track memory accesses from threadprocessing elements associated with transactional regions of sharedmemory in data cache unit 1474. If read/write conflicts occur thearchitectural state may be rolled back to a previous synchronizationpoint and the conflicting accesses are not committed. For one embodimentTSX ISA 1469 of apparatus 1402 includes one or more instruction (forexample the XTEST instruction(s) described above) executable byexecution unit(s) 1462 to provide functionality for testingtransactional execution status in the thread processing elements.

By including the TSX ISA 1469 in the instruction set of ageneral-purpose processor core, along with associated logic to executethe instructions, the operations used by many multithreaded applicationsmay be performed using restricted transactional memory or hardware lockelision using apparatus 1401 in a general-purpose processor core. Thus,many multithreaded applications can be accelerated and executed moreefficiently by using the restricted transactional memory or hardwarelock elision for performing synchronization on shared data. As describedabove, when thread processing elements are executing transactionally,the tracking logic 1473 in memory access unit(s) 1464 tracks memoryaccesses from thread processing elements associated with transactionalregions of shared memory in data cache unit 1474. This can eliminate theneed to perform unnecessary synchronization on critical sections ofshared memory that have relatively few conflicts.

FIG. 15 illustrates a flow diagram for one embodiment of a process 1501to provide functionality for testing transactional execution status.Process 1501 and other processes herein disclosed are performed byprocessing blocks that may comprise dedicated hardware or software orfirmware operation codes executable by general purpose machines or byspecial purpose machines or by a combination of both.

In processing block 1510 of process 1501, a first instruction or prefixto start a transactional region (e.g. for RTM or HLE) is decoded.Responsive to decoding the first instruction, a checkpoint for a set ofarchitecture state registers is generated in processing block 1520. Alsoresponsive to decoding the first instruction, memory accesses from aprocessing element in the transactional region associated with the firstinstruction are tracked in processing block 1530. In processing block1540 a second instruction to detect transactional execution of thetransactional region (e.g. one of the XTEST instructions) is decoded. Inprocessing block 1550 an operation is executed, responsive to decodingthe second instruction, to determine if an execution context of thesecond instruction is within the transactional region. Then responsiveto the second instruction, a first flag is updated in processing block1560 (e.g. to zero if the execution context of the second instruction iswithin the transactional region, or to one otherwise). Furtherresponsive to the second instruction, a register is optionally updated(e.g. as in XTEST.NL or as in XTEST.BA, etc.) in processing block 1570.And in processing block 1580, a second flag is optionally updatedresponsive to the second instruction (e.g. as in XTEST.BV or XTEST.MV orXTEST.BM).

It will be appreciated that while the process 1501 and other processesherein disclosed are illustrated sequentially, the operations ofprocessing blocks may be performed in various different orders and/or inparallel with each other or continually in some alternative embodiments.

FIG. 16 illustrates a flow diagram for an alternative embodiment 1601 ofa process to support testing transactional execution status. Inprocessing block 1605 the transactional region 1601 is entered (e.g. byencountering an XACQUIRE prefix or an XBEGIN instruction). In processingblock 1610, the architectural registers and state are saved. At thispoint if the XTEST instruction is executed in processing block 1615,then the test at processing block 1620 would determine that the zeroflag was not set as a result of the XTEST instruction being executedwithin the transactionally executing region 1601 in processing block1615. It will be understood that the flow diagram of FIG. 16 is just anexample, and that a programmer may execute the XTEST instruction ofprocessing block 1615 at any point in the process.

Moving on to processing block 1625, memory transactions are buffered asa result of transactionally executing region 1601. In processing block1635, buffered memory locations may be marked as exclusive, for examplein the data cache(s). A read-set is monitored in processing block 1645.If in processing block 1650 another executing thread writes to amonitored memory location of the read-set, then transactional processingis aborted in processing block 1665 (referred to as a transactionalabort) and the processor will begin to roll back the execution to aprevious synchronization point, for example, the saved state ofprocessing block 1610. On the other hand, when no other executing threadwrites to a monitored memory location of the read-set in processingblock 1650, a write-set is also being monitored concurrently accordingto any read/write transactions in processing block 1655. If inprocessing block 1660 another executing thread reads or writes to amonitored memory location of the write-set, then transactionalprocessing is also aborted in processing block 1665. It will beappreciated that such monitoring is an ongoing process, maintainedcontinually in a manner very similar to cache coherency maintenance.When no other executing threads write to a monitored memory location ofthe read-set in processing block 1650 and no other executing threadsread or write to a monitored memory location of the write-set inprocessing block 1660 prior to reaching the end of the transactionalregion, then in processing block 1670 the transactional region 1601 isexited in processing block 1670 (e.g. by encountering an XRELEASE prefixor an XEND instruction) and the buffered memory transactions areatomically committed in processing block 1675 such that they may beobserved by other executing threads.

Following a transactional abort in processing block 1665, the processorwill roll back the execution to a previous synchronization point,thereby restoring the saved architectural registers and state anddiscarding any uncommitted memory transactions. At this point if theXTEST instruction is executed in processing block 1615, then the test atprocessing block 1620 would determine that the zero flag was set as aresult of the XTEST instruction being executed in processing block 1615following a transactional abort in processing block 1665, andconsequently not within a transactionally executing region 1601.Therefore in processing block 1630, a program or thread would view therestored or rolled back processor state of a previous synchronizationpoint, and could continue to execute as a non transactional region inprocessing block 1640. According to embodiments of the XTEST instructionthe program may determine whether or not a transactional abort has takenplace, which may not otherwise be indicated by processor or memorystate.

It will be appreciated that given such observations of whether or not atransactional abort has taken place, such information may provideoptions to the programmer such as recording and counting the number ofretries that ended in a transactional abort. Other options may also beprovided to the programmer such as skipping sections of code dependingon a determination that the program is or is not currently executingwithin a transactionally executing region. Other various types of XTESTinstructions have also been described, which may provide additionaloptions to the programmer, such as getting an indication prior to atransactional abort that something could go wrong (e.g like running outof buffer space, or some other thread is also issuing transactions tothe same memory locations that your thread intends to modify, etc.).

The above description is intended to illustrate preferred embodiments ofthe present invention. From the discussion above it should also beapparent that especially in such an area of technology, where growth isfast and further advancements are not easily foreseen, the invention maybe modified in arrangement and detail by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the principles of the present invention withinthe scope of the accompanying claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A processor comprising: a plurality ofmultithreaded cores; one or more of the plurality of multithreaded coresto perform out-of-order instruction execution of instructions for aplurality of threads, one or more of the plurality of multithreadedcores comprising: instruction fetch logic to fetch instructions of oneor more of the plurality of threads, an instruction decode unit todecode the instructions, register renaming logic to rename one or moreregisters within a register file, an instruction cache to cacheinstructions to be executed, a data cache to cache data, a level 2 (L2)cache unit to cache instructions and data, and an execution unit toexecute a transactional execution region of instructions, the executionunit having a first instruction, the first instruction to test statusrelated to the transactional execution region.
 2. The processor as inclaim 1, the execution unit further having: a second instruction toindicate a beginning of a transactional execution region ofinstructions.
 3. The processor as in claim 1, the execution unit furtherhaving: a third instruction to indicate an end of the transactionexecution region and to cause memory transactions to be atomicallycommitted.
 4. The processor as in claim 1, the execution unit furtherhaving: a second instruction to indicate a beginning of a transactionalexecution region of instructions; and a third instruction to indicate anend of a transaction execution region and to cause memory transactionsto be atomically committed.